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Golden Sun BYOND

Started by Kioll, 21, November, 2011, 04:19:34 PM

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Kioll

Hey, everyone.  I'm Kioll, your friendly neighborhood oddball.  I would like to share with you all a project that I've been wanting to do for a while, which I feel is made possible by Atrius's TLA Editor.  That said, I would like to Introduce you to Golden Sun BYOND.

For those who don't know, BYOND (Build Your Own Net Dream), is an amateur game making platform which allows those who can understand the code to create and host their own homebrew games, playable by anyone who has the BYOND client installed.  Allowing for both single-player and multi-player games to be produced, the BYOND client has complete interactivity with other players, although it is a bit limited.  That being said, I can now describe the game with everyone reading being on equal footing.

Golden Sun BYOND (Preliminary title, also considering Golden Sun: Age of Alchemy) is designed to be a multi-player version of the classic Golden Sun games.  It's mostly plans at the moment, I have all of a few lines of code done so far, but I plan to have character creation, allowing players to create 1 character of their choice, choosing class and elemental alignment, and randomizing stats based on the character's role.  I plan to include a player party system, and possibly an option of creating an NPC party, a more extensive class system covering all the classes from all the current games and a few new ones, the ability to learn certain psynergies of other elements, allowing single characters to go further on their own, and access to the full map of Weyard (GS1 and 2, Dark Dawn may be added later...).  I plan to include all of the classic locations, djinn, and psynergies, while tastefully expanding upon that.

Planned features include:
A 9 or 10 djinni limit per character, no repeats (including the ability to free a djinni in favor of new ones, if so inclined.)
The original mechanics system (or at least as close as I can get.)
Windowed fight scenes and menu (to avoid issues with switching screens; as I said, BYOND is limited)
A global chat system
A "home town" system, allowing characters to start from certain places (Such as Prox, or Imil, or even Garoh ;) )
A racial selection (although it may have to wait for later versions...)
Up to 8 player parties, allowing for any combination of characters (Want an all Mars Adept team?  Go for it!)
New and classic puzzles.
Storyline (Want to play through the old story with new characters?  Great!  Or follow your own sequence of events, make your own story!)
PVP battle (Go to the arena, battle against other characters.)
Limited Psynergy customization.  (Don't like a psynergy you have?  Trade it in for a new one!)
Customized character portraits
Dual elemental power (Raise your elemental level in the element closest to your own, for single characters only; no parties may be formed with these characters.)
New, stronger monsters (Want to be the most powerful adept?  Sure, you can level a little higher now, just... don't die!   :happy:)

Input, ideas, anyone familiar with BYOND's Dream Maker code, planning help, some of the harder to find sprites (like the psynergy rings, the ones that appear when using psynergy in the overworld?  Can't find a working sprite to save my life!), any of these kinds of help and more are desired and most welcome.  Also, formulae, battle mechanics, well-liked improvements to the original system, all ideas like that are also welcome.  Also, Pixel Art help.
I am the almighty emissary of fire...  the Mars Adept Kioll.  Oh, and did I mention that I'll see you long before you see me?

Tetsuya the Azure Blade

Wow, you've got alot of good ideas. Will there be a charater creation like in WoW or AQW? You don't want ten gazillion copies of the same character all running around the game.

Kioll

Well, BYOND is basically a 2D system, so nothing that fancy in a BYOND game; although I'd be willing to try a more advanced system if someone were to be able to help with it.  But basically creation is going to be, to the best of my ability, hairstyle, hair color, eye color, and clothing.
I am the almighty emissary of fire...  the Mars Adept Kioll.  Oh, and did I mention that I'll see you long before you see me?

Tetsuya the Azure Blade

I'd like to help with that, but I'm not much of a coder. The most advanced thing I've done in that area is make a simple asteroids game. ( ゚ ヮ゚)/

Misery

Golden Sun multiplayer OH GOD YES.
I hope I'll be able to help you with this. Because I want to help everyone with everything, it seems. Don't expect it to turn out that way, though...

Anyway, I'll keep my eyes on this project.

Kioll

Nero, honestly, I'm not much of a coder either.  I mean, I can do the job, but even I need help with some more advanced stuff.  BYOND's code isn't that hard to understand, most of the time.  I could teach you pretty easily.

Misery, I would love the help.  Anything you can do would be loved.  Also, my profile has my messenger ID's, you guys can IM me about this on Yahoo, AIM, MSN...  Go for it...  While I'm thinking about it, Misery, what kind of help might you provide?
I am the almighty emissary of fire...  the Mars Adept Kioll.  Oh, and did I mention that I'll see you long before you see me?

Rolina

Check out the Golden Sun MMO thread for some good ideas.  Also, good luck.

Tetsuya the Azure Blade

#7
Do you have a basic idea of the plot of the game?

Kioll: Cool, but my pc's a six year old piece of temperamental crap, can I run BYOND?

And that asteroids game I made is the noobiest of nooby games. Search around the site, you won't miss it.

Kioll

Thanks for the suggestion, Role.  ^^  As for the plot, I have a few ideas; that part's still in development.  Also, considering BYOND is made to run on computers as early as ME, probably.
I am the almighty emissary of fire...  the Mars Adept Kioll.  Oh, and did I mention that I'll see you long before you see me?

Tetsuya the Azure Blade

QuoteAs for the plot, I have a few ideas; that part's still in development.
Like what? When does it take place? Is it a sequel or a prequel to GS? Who are the antagonists? What event spurs the players into starting their quest?

Misery

Quote from: Kioll on 21, November, 2011, 05:01:15 PM
While I'm thinking about it, Misery, what kind of help might you provide?
I can do a bit of programming, and I'm all too familiar with the battle mechanics in GS (like many other board members here). If nothing else, I can probably help spot game balance issues. It's just that my off schedule-schedule is a little tight at the moment :Sweat:
But I'll look into this eventually, BYOND seems interesting.

Kioll

For the moment, I have a set difference in mind for single-character storyline and party storyline.  And as every character is of course, different, don't you think every character should have their own storyline?  :D  Example:

I plan on making character creation fairly simple by including what is, in essence, a "build" decision as the first decision.
Build, in this case, refers to character role:  You can choose one or two basic ability types, out of Fighter, Healer, Caster, Sneak.
Choosing one of these of course means you have less focus division, making you stronger in that role, but choosing 2 allows you to be more versatile.  Build would affect the type of psynergies you gain, the list of classes available to you...  For instance, I'd give a Venus Sneak access to something like Sand early on, allowing them to hide easily; a Jupiter Sneak might get Cloak in its place.  You'd think Fighter/Healer might be the best option, but that's why other builds get specific boosts to make them more useful...  Here are the advantages I have in mind for each.

Fighters have high attack and defense, making them good for physical combat.  Their psynergy will be noticeably weaker in comparison.
Healers, of course, have low damage, decent defense, and strong healing psynergy.  They lack much in the way of offense, but being able to stay alive longer means they still have a chance of making it.
Casters have a lot of strong psynergy, able to place damage and elemental power across the board; to make up for it, of course, low physical ability.
Sneaks are decent physically, although still somewhat weak there, a mostly balanced class, with one special advantage:  They are good at sneaking around, being able to pass undetected and surprise their opponents.  This means they can perform sneak attacks, have high bonuses if they catch their opponent off-guard (You took the enemy by surprise!  You attack first!  <---  Bonus on first attack.)  This means Sneaks would make good assassin-types.
Balance is of course going to come down to a lot of math...  But anyways, here's how all of this is relevant to the question.  Different types of characters have different motivations, accomplish goals differently, and different personalities.  This means that despite the overall goal of the story being the same, how you get there will vary based on your character's viewpoint.  You may want to talk the Mayor into giving you the item, you may want to try to find your own, or you may even try to steal it.  You might be a welcomed guest or a hated prisoner...  It's all up to you.

In short, my friend, I haven't gotten much done on the storyline, I figured mechanics and playability came before story.

And Misery, you're quickly becoming my best friend.  If you don't mind, I would like to talk to you on an instant messenger of some sort, see what all you might be able to help me with!
I am the almighty emissary of fire...  the Mars Adept Kioll.  Oh, and did I mention that I'll see you long before you see me?

Rolina

Wait, how multiplayer is this gonna be?  Are we talking like minor MMO levels, or is it something a group of friends have a lan party over or something?

Kioll

Minor MMO levels.  The Dream Seeker client within BYOND (the one that allows you to play games) connects to the internet, then to the BYOND server, then to the individual host running Dream Daemon.  The only limit on the number of players is the host's ability to connect.  In other words, RAM.
I am the almighty emissary of fire...  the Mars Adept Kioll.  Oh, and did I mention that I'll see you long before you see me?

Rolina

Okay, in that case I'll go ahead and post what I was going to post before I stopped myself.


Story?  In an MMO?  What is the world coming to...

Tetsuya the Azure Blade

#15
Quote from: Role on 21, November, 2011, 07:06:22 PM
Story?  In an MMO?  What is the world coming to...
An age where MMOs have (hopefully interesting) plots, instead of just being glorified social networks?

Kioll

Any game needs a good story.  I don't know about you, but I don't want to get on a game, MMO or not, and just run around killing things.  There's a reason it's called a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.  You take on the role of a character in a world, not a sprite in a game.  Your actions have an effect on the overall world, that's what MMORPG is all about.  So yes, story in an MMO.  Because all the good MMO's have a storyline.  Heck, even WoW has a frickin' storyline.  It's covered, most of the time, but it's there.
I am the almighty emissary of fire...  the Mars Adept Kioll.  Oh, and did I mention that I'll see you long before you see me?

Rolina

Heh, tell that to games like World of Warcraft.  Most MMOs I've sampled have little to nothing in terms of actual story, just some kind of background where the story takes place.

Kioll

Either way, a role playing game needs to include role playing.  So, story.  Besides, quests ARE story.  Granted, some quests make it more evident than others, but any time you interact with an NPC, complete a goal, that's all story.  Boss battles are ESPECIALLY story points...  Making a game is like writing a book where someone else fills in the details.
I am the almighty emissary of fire...  the Mars Adept Kioll.  Oh, and did I mention that I'll see you long before you see me?

Charon

A basic story is all you really need for any game. There are RPGs without crazy storylines.

...So this is like gamemaker for Online games?... Sounds pretty cool.